Posted on 06/19/2015 11:21:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Eleven people, including six San Diego County residents, have been charged with illegally manufacturing and distributing a counterfeit 5-Hour Energy drink that was sold in stores across the U.S.
The defendants include 63-year-old Joseph Shayota of El Cajon; 44-year-old Adriana Shayota of El Cajon; 51-year-old Kevin Attiq of El Cajon; 57-year-old Fadi Attiq of El Cajon; 55-year-old Mario Ramirez of San Diego; and 30-year-old Camilo Ramirez of San Diego.
They are charged with conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy to introduce misbranded food into interstate commerce.
Federal prosecutors said the case started as a legitimate business venture – the Shayotas made an agreement with the manufacturers of 5-Hour Energy to distribute the product in Mexico and provide Spanish-language labeling.
The Shayotas with the help of others, however, instead allegedly sold it in the United States at a higher price than the intended Mexico product. They repackaged more than 350,000 bottles to sell, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Then, prosecutors said, the defendants moved to creating their own version of the 5-Hour Energy Drink.
“The defendants mixed unregulated ingredients in plastic vats while attempting to mimic the real 5-Hour Energy products,” the news release said. The group is alleged to have manufactured the counterfeit product at an unsanitary facility using untrained workers.
Between May 2012 and December 2012, the group distributed more than four million bottles of counterfeit 5-Hour Energy into commercial channels throughout the country, the indictment alleges. Those include local wholesale distributors Dan-Dee Company Inc. of Spring Valley, Tradeway International Inc. of San Diego and Trimexico Inc. of El Centro.
Prosecutors said the group also sold the fake product to stores throughout the country, including 7-Eleven, CVS, Circle K and Chevron. None of the stores are in San Diego County, though a number of them are in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.
“This alleged counterfeit operation was especially egregious as the investigation revealed this product was sold, distributed and placed on the shelves of numerous retailers throughout the United States,” FDA Special Agent Lisa Malinowski said in the news release.
The defendants, who appeared in U.S. District Court in San Jose, will appear in court next on July 9. They were ordered to be released on $100,000 bond. NBC San Diego is attempting to contact the defendants or their attorneys. Attempts to reach Kevin Attiq Friday afternoon were unsuccessful. We made a phone call to Dan-Dee Company and a representative hung up.
Any idiot can get the recipe for ‘five-hour’, reproduce it with a slightly different taste, and rename it for legit purposes “6.5 hour happy juice” and it’d be totally legit.
I’ve seen “Seven Hour Power,” and something labelled “8-Hour...” (not sure of the rest of the label)
Indeed quite trivial...
This sounds like a lot of work and cost. They made millions of bottles on their own? How did they make a profit? Did anyone get sick from what they drank.
The manufactured bottles with sealed caps and everything?
They all equal two small cups of espresso. If you gulped them down....you’d get the same feeling.
Why do those names scream illegal alien to me?
I was working night shift and had not adapted yet. I was having a nard tme staying awake sometimes and once tried the 5 hour. It worked well. A week later I felt called upon again to spend the 3.50 for one and again it had the desired result. The third time i looked at the label and saw there “500 units B12.” It occurred to me that I had seen B12 at WalMart for a bit cheaper. I went there and got a bottle of 236 500 unit sublinguals for about $2.50. They worked just as well and regular use altered my sleep/wake schedule very nicely. The only difference in effect is occasioned by the little bit of caffeine in the 5Hour so that you feel an immediate effect. Using the sublinguals one notices no effect until several hours later one realizes that one is not nodding and, in fact, is quite alr\ert.
Look at the ingredients label. All you need to see is "500 mcg B12." Then go to WalMart and buy a bottle of 200 of their sublingual B12s for less than the cost of one 5Hour. If the 5Hour clone comes from China then you don't know at all what is in it.
I would have appreciated a single banker prosecuted for bundling subprime loans, passing them through Moodies for their AAA rating, and selling them by the $billions instead of this type bs.
Compare who has been hurt by both. This is noise for the dancing with stars masses.
The article completely ignored the fact that all but one of these defendants (the Muslim) are illegal Mexican nationals.
Reporter Dave Gibson said all but the Muslim guy are illegal aliens.
B12 and Taurine. Without Taurine it doesn't work. But if you are prone to kidney stones stay away from that.
Then arrest Obama. It was HIS legal precedent with ACORN in Chicago that forced Bank of America to make subprime loans to illegal aliens in Chicago and Los Angeles that started the snowball down the hill.
No, this began long before the 1st Kenyan. Meltdown was full blown in 2008.
I don’t know about Taurine. There is none on the B12 labels and it works quite well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.